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Thursday, August 3, 2017

American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity Denounces Reported Efforts by the Department of Justice to Investigate Affirmative Action Programs at Colleges and Universities

Association of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Professionals finds that the Department's reported anti-affirmative action efforts, if true, would be "unconscionable"

Washington, DC, August 3, 2017- The American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity (AAAED), an organization of equal opportunity, diversity and affirmative action professionals, announced its opposition to the reported plans of the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate colleges and universities seeking to diversify their student bodies.

Founded in 1974 as the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA), AAAED is a national not-for-profit association of professionals working in the areas of equal opportunity, compliance and diversity. The longest-serving organization of individuals in the equal opportunity and diversity profession, AAAED has 43 years of leadership providing quality professional training to practitioners and promoting understanding and advocacy of affirmative action and other equal opportunity laws.

According to the New York Times, the Trump Administration is preparing to re-focus the resources of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to investigate and file lawsuits against colleges and universities that use affirmative action programs "deemed to discriminate against white applicants."[1]

The actual "Detail Opportunity" reportedly states that the Civil Rights Division was seeking attorneys to work with the Office of the Assistant Attorney General on "investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions." This announcement was posted on Twitter by the Center for Investigative Reporting. The Administration has since "explained" that the Department was seeking volunteers to work on a complaint filed by Asian students against Harvard University, not a major policy announcement.

"Notwithstanding this latest 'clarification' by the Administration, it should be stated that student unrest at colleges and universities underscores continuing racial disparities, especially at selective academic institutions," said Shirley J. Wilcher, executive director at AAAED. A study by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce found that this polarization has worsened since the mid-1990s. According to this study, white students accounted for 75 percent of freshman enrollment at colleges in the top three tiers of selectivity, according to Barron's college guide. Only seven percent of freshmen at such colleges were African-American and only eight percent were Hispanic. [2] "It is these institutions for whom affirmative action is employed as a means of diversifying the student body," Wilcher added.

Recent Supreme Court cases have upheld the limited use of race as a factor in higher education admissions. Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (2016) underscored the permissibility of race as part of a holistic review of a student's application for admission. These cases also emphasized the benefits to both students of color and white students that flow from having a diverse student body.

Moreover, Fortune 500 companies have repeatedly filed amicus curiae briefs supporting the use of race as a factor in higher education admissions. Their concern is "they won't be able to get the diverse workforce they need unless colleges, business schools, and engineering institutions can take race into account to achieve diversity goals."[3]

"Our concern is that the Department of Justice's purported actions, even on behalf of one group of plaintiffs, could reflect a major policy reversal and could have a serious chilling effect on efforts to promote diversity at selective colleges and universities," said Dr. Myron Anderson, president of AAAED. "That effect could even extend beyond the consideration of race upheld by the Court in Fisher to encompass recruitment and outreach and other efforts aimed at broadening opportunities for socioeconomically disadvantaged students, who are disproportionately non-white."

What is most problematic for AAAED is if the Department invests the resources of the federal government behind efforts to broadly undermine affirmative action programs in admissions. "It is one thing for the government to file a brief for or against the policy, but the purpose of this initiative could be to target entire programs," continued Anderson.

"It is our hope that the Attorney General will not use the Department's limited resources to attack Court-supported diversity programs. Such efforts would be unconscionable, harkening back to the status quo ante 1964, while the nation's student population and the future workforce is becoming increasingly diverse," Wilcher stated.

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Department’s civil rights division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions policies deemed to discriminate against white applicants, according to a document obtained by The New York Times.

The document, an internal announcement to the civil rights division, seeks current lawyers interested in working for a new project on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”

The announcement suggests that the project will be run out of the division’s front office, where the Trump administration’s political appointees work, rather than its Educational Opportunities Section, which is run by career civil servants and normally handles work involving schools and universities.

The document does not explicitly identify whom the Justice Department considers at risk of discrimination because of affirmative action admissions policies. But the phrasing it uses, “intentional race-based discrimination,” cuts to the heart of programs designed to bring more minority students to university campuses.

Supporters and critics of the project said it was clearly targeting admissions programs that can give members of generally disadvantaged groups, like black and Latino students, an edge over other applicants with comparable or higher test scores.

Trump administration plans to investigate and sue colleges and universities over admissions practices.

Scott Jaschik

August 2, 2017

A bombshell report in The New York TimesTuesday night revealed that the U.S. Justice Department plans to investigate and sue colleges over their affirmative action policies in admissions.

The Times cited an internal announcement to the Justice Department's civil rights division that seeks lawyers for a project on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions.”

For supporters of affirmative action in college admissions, the news was a shock. Just over a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the admissions policies of the University of Texas at Austin, which include consideration of race and ethnicity. Many college leaders feared, prior to the decision coming down, that affirmative action was endangered. But the decision -- just three years after another Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action -- assured many that colleges could continue to consider race in admissions.

Critics of affirmative action have never abandoned their hope that the Supreme Court might some day revisit the issue, and a new lawsuit was filed against UT just weeks ago. But the backing of the U.S. Justice Department could give that movement new strength.

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Dear Mr. Bradshaw, My son is a junior in high school and I am concerned about ethnic "quotas" for admissions at top colleges. He is Asian-American, and my friends tell me that many top colleges have quotas. They said that some Asian students who have been rejected had nearly perfect test scores and grades. How can my son escape the same fate when he applies in August?

Gubernatorial candidates, who have been pressed to offer their thoughts on affirmative action by Latino and black state lawmakers, began to weigh in Monday evening.
Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, gave the most concrete response.
"Mayor Villaraigosa agrees with both caucuses that keeping this issue at the forefront is vital to the future of California,” a campaign spokeswoman said in a statement. “He went to UCLA on an affirmative action program and was on the frontline against Prop. 209. Villaraigosa believes California can’t truly be progressive unless we’re all making progress together, which means we must support and expand programs that lift more families into the middle class."
Villaraigosa was responding to a questionnaire sent to six Democratic and Republican gubernatorial candidates about affirmative action and the ramifications of a 1996 voter-approved law that banned it in publicly funded institutions of higher education.
The letter by the chairmen of the Latino and black legislative caucuses, which was mailed Friday, injects a potentially volatile racial issue that has previously splintered California Democrats into the 2018 contest.
The questions also raise a divisive 2014 effort to repeal the ban on affirmative action.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The Trump administration is planning to disband the Labor Department division that has policed discrimination among federal contractors for four decades, according to the White House’s newly proposed budget, part of wider efforts to rein in government programs that promote civil rights.

As outlined in Labor’s fiscal 2018 plan, the move would fold the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, now home to 600 employees, into another government agency in the name of cost-cutting.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Salem College, which faced protests this year from minority students, has dismissed the head of its Office of Diversity and Inclusiveness, The Winston-Salem Journal reported. The college says that it is upgrading the office and will seek to hire a vice president to lead it. But minority students are criticizing the plan, saying that the current office and director provide important support.

Though a new pro-LGBTQ group on Samford University’s campus has been approved by both students and faculty, it has roiled Alabama Baptists.

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
May 30, 2017

Last month, the president of Samford University gave remarks just before professors voted on a controversial new student group. It's one centered on discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity, from a sympathetic perspective rather than a critical one, which would seemingly prompt friction among the constituents of the private, Baptist institution.

“Many of us who hold what are known as ‘traditional’ views of marriage and human sexuality today are called ‘haters,’” said President Andrew Westmoreland, according to a transcript of his comments. “The term is intended to hurt, and it does. So volleys fly back and forth between camps while positions and hearts are hardened, and we run the risk, the very serious risk, that we will drive away from our churches and our universities and our families a generation that thinks about these questions in different ways than we have known. I choose not to walk that path, because brokenness already abounds and I am loathe to add to it. I believe that we are people who are capable of discussing differences without rancor, perhaps modeling for our students and others a way to move along this most tortured route.”

Political philosophy journal, subject of two scathing open letters, apologizes for lack of black authors.

Scott Jaschik

May 30, 2017

The June issue of The Journal of Political Philosophy devotes more than 60 pages to a three-author “symposium” on the Black Lives Matter movement.

The journal is now apologizing for doing so without including the work of black philosophers. And the controversy has drawn attention to the journal's generally poor record of publishing black scholars or, prior to the symposium, scholarship on issues related to race.

Students demand firing of Evergreen State professor. Police chief urges him to stay off campus for his safety. Supporters say he’s the one upholding principles of equity.

Scott Jaschik
May 30, 2017

In the heated debates of campus politics these days, it is not unusual for some groups (on or off campus) to demand the firing of a faculty member. But the rancor at Evergreen State College over the last week stands out. There, a professor whom some students want fired was told by the campus police chief that, out of concern for his safety, he should stay off campus for a few days. He did, teaching a class nearby in Olympia, Wash., and is not sure when he can return to campus.

The professor's critics say he's racist, and groups of students have been holding demonstrations -- sometimes turning into marches across campus and impromptu searches for the professor. They have been chanting that racist professors must be fired. Bret Weinstein (right), a biology professor, is the main target and is the faculty member who moved his class off campus. "Fire Bret" graffiti is visible on campus. But students are also demanding the dismissals of one or more police officers, that the campus police sell off all of its weapons and various other policy changes.

The EEOC and the DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs would be combined to create “one agency to combat employment discrimination,” according to the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018.

An item in President Trump's proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 met immediate resistance on Capitol Hill and among employer and civil rights groups: merging the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) into the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), creating one agency to combat employment discrimination.

"OFCCP and EEOC will work collaboratively to coordinate this transition to the EEOC by the end of FY 2018," the proposed budget states. "This builds on the existing tradition of operational coordination between the two agencies. The transition of OFCCP and integration of these two agencies will reduce operational redundancies, promote efficiencies, improve services to citizens and strengthen civil rights enforcement."

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

President Moon Jae-in's designation of Kang Kyung-wha as foreign minister would score 90 out of a perfect 100 points merely for the fact that she would be the first woman to hold the office if confirmed by the National Assembly.

But what makes the appointment a success or failure is how well Kang, a former United Nations deputy commissioner for human rights, will score out of the remaining 10 points.

Friday, May 19, 2017

On April 7, 2017, the Senate confirmed Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as the 101st associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, replacing the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. The confirmation was based on a party-line vote of 54-45, and only three Democrats voted with the majority.

This vote was significant for several reasons, both procedural and substantive. The vote set a precedent that will have an impact on the way Supreme Court justices are confirmed for the foreseeable future. It may also have implications regarding issues of interest to the higher education and diverse communities.

The letters about Justice Clarence Thomas’ criticisms of affirmative action are interesting. It is a fact that Thomas’ consideration for and acceptance of enrollment at College of the Holy Cross was prompted by the school’s affirmative action outreach initiative to recruit and consider more minority applicants. Why he accepted the enrollment offer, believing it was devaluing, is a mystery. Did he know for a fact that he was accepted over other, more-qualified non-minorities? Or does he just assume that because the school’s outreach initiative was affirmative?

Conservatives have always mischaracterized affirmative action programs solely as unconstitutional quota systems that force managers to select specific numbers of minorities regardless of their qualifications. Nothing could be further from the truth. It was largely about businesses expanding their recruitment horizons beyond past practices, which produced few minority candidates to consider.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

(CNN)Taylor Dumpson was elated. On May 1, she became student government president at American University -- the first African-American woman ever to hold the job.

But less then 24 hours after she officially took office, her joy turned to pain. Dumpson got a message from a friend as she was on her way to campus. Bananas had been found hanging from nooses at three spots on the university's Washington campus, her friend said.

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Arizona Diamondbacks and other outstanding advocates of Diversity in Higher Education and private industry are among the Award recipients at the Association’s 43rd National Conference and Annual Meeting in Scottsdale, AZ June 8th.

May 12, 2017

The American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity (AAAED), an organization of equal opportunity, diversity and affirmative action professionals, announced the 2017 honorees of its annual awards program. Several of the awards will be given to local individuals and organizations including the Arizona Diamondbacks. The awards will be conferred during the Association’s 43rd National Conference and Annual Meeting themed: "We are known by the tracks that we leave.” The theme recognizes the importance of ensuring that conference attendees are developing and leaving a more diverse and inclusive legacy than they found.

The annual meeting will be held at the Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia, 4949 East Lincoln Drive, Scottsdale, Arizona 85253. The Awards Luncheon will take place on Thursday, June 8th at noon. "We are pleased to recognize these distinguished individuals and organizations in Arizona for their contributions to the cause of access, equity and diversity,” said Dr. Myron Anderson, AAAED President. "Great honor is due to these local trailblazers who have been outstanding in their fields,” added AAAED Conference Chair Rosemary Cox. The awards reception is open to the press.

The 2017 AAAED Awards Honorees from Arizona are:

Dr. Rufus Glasper, President and CEO of the League for Innovation in the Community College, Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Howard University failed to swiftly handle sexual assault reports, leading to at least one assailant raping on campus again, a federal lawsuit claims. What's more, the Washington, DC school refused to provide the help that suicidal rape victims requested and let an accused rapist who was an RA have access to a key to his alleged victim’s dorm room, according to the complaint filed Wednesday.

The university's handling of the sexual assault cases pushed two of the plaintiffs, referred to in the suit as Jane Does 1 through 5, to leave Howard's campus due to concerns about safety and their mental health.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Two lawsuits -- one involving accused student’s suicide and another about an attempt -- have added fire to the continued debate over how colleges handle complaints of sexual assault.

Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
May 2, 2017

In recent years, critics of the Obama administration's approach to sexual assault reporting have charged that colleges are denying the rights of the accused.

Conservative websites, primarily, in the last few weeks have focused two pending lawsuits against universities. The suits say that after allegedly bungled investigations into sexual assault accusations under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a University of Texas at Arlington student killed himself and a Cornell University student attempted to do so.

One University of Texas at Austin student was stabbed to death and three other students were hospitalized after an attack Monday afternoon, The Austin-American Statesman reported. Austin and UT police identified Kendrex White, a 20-year-old junior, as the alleged attacker. He reportedly used what police described as a "large, bowie-style hunting knife" to carry out the attack. White was taken into custody immediately after the attack.

The university called off classes and events Monday afternoon and evening. In a statement, President Greg Fenves said, "There are no words to describe my sense of loss. Campus safety is our highest priority, and we will investigate this tragic incident to the greatest extent possible. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families, the witnesses to the crime, and every member of Longhorn nation. We all mourn today."

Baylor University suspended a fraternity Monday over a party it held Saturday that embraced many stereotypes of Mexicans. The Waco Tribune reported that students wore sombreros, some were in painted brown faces dressed as construction workers and others chanted "build the wall," in reference to President Trump's pledge to build a wall on the Mexican border. Hundreds of Baylor students held a protest of the incident Monday.

Kevin P. Jackson, vice president for student life at Baylor, issued this statement Sunday, as word of the party spread: "The university has been made aware of a racially insensitive event that occurred last night off campus. The reported behavior is deeply concerning and does not in any way reflect Baylor’s institutional values. University officials are presently investigating the incident and gathering additional information. Baylor is committed to a Christian mission that actively supports a caring and diverse campus community, and we do not tolerate racism of any kind on our campus. When any incident that does not align with our faith and mission is brought to our attention, it is thoroughly investigated by the university, and appropriate action is taken."

Bananas have again become a source of racial tension at American University. In the fall, black students protested over incidents in which they said one had a banana thrown at her and another found a rotten banana left outside her dormitory room. On Monday, officials discovered three bananas hanging from noose-like strings, with the letters "AKA" written on them, an apparent reference to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest historically black sorority in the country. An AKA member recently became the head of American's student government.

Neil Kerwin, president of the university, issued a statement Monday that said in part, "The crude and racially insensitive act of bigotry reported this morning is under investigation by AU Campus Police with assistance from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and other AU offices and senior officials. We strongly condemn what happened [and] will do all that we can to find those responsible."

The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics has “challenged” the governing board of the College Football Playoff to better address issues of health, safety and diversity.

The commission -- now co-chaired by former Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and Carol Cartwright, president emerita of Kent State University -- has released recommendations for the College Football Playoff, which governs the championship of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. Largely, the recommendations revolve around how the playoff group should spend its revenue.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

For the first time in more than a decade, Mexicans no longer make up the majority of immigrants staying in the U.S. illegally, according to new estimates by the Pew Research Center.

Their analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows that last year, there were 5.6 million Mexican nationals living in the U.S. without authorization – half of the unauthorized immigrant population in 2016. Mexicans have been the majority of that population since 2005, according to the Pew report.

Although Mexicans still make up the largest group of unauthorized immigrants, numbers from Mexico have been on the decline since the Great Recession began in late 2007.

Michael T. Raupp explores whether a recent court of appeals decision on sexual orientation discrimination will result in new interpretations.

Michael T. Raupp

April 20, 2017

A federal court of appeals’ recent decision to extend Title VII’s protection to sexual-orientation employment discrimination undoubtedly changes the legal landscape in which employers, including institutions of higher education, operate within the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin). Given the tendency of courts to look to interpretations of Title VII when making legal rulings under Title IX, this new decision also opens the question of whether courts will begin interpreting Title IX to also prohibit sexual-orientation discrimination.

For example, several federal courts have rejected claims by students alleging that they were subjected to harassment by other students in the form of epithets about their sexual orientation and that the educational institutions failed to adequately respond. Courts, by and large, rejected these claims outright, finding that Title IX does not protect against sexual-orientation discrimination.

Percentage of tenured faculty members who are white men dropped from 69.0 to 60.8 percent in last decade.

Scott Jaschik
April 24, 2017

Harvard University released data Monday illustrating gains in the diversity of its faculty over the last decade.
During that time the total number of tenured and tenure-track positions did not change much at all, although the proportion who were tenured went up. Among the other changes in the make-up of the tenured faculty

The percentage who are white men dropped from 69.0 to 60.8 percent.

The percentage who are white women increased from 18.2 percent to 20.4 percent.

The percentage of Asian women more than doubled from 1.4 percent to 2.9 percent, while the percentage of Asian men grew from 6.2 percent to 8.2 percent.

The percentages also went up for those in under-represented minority groups -- for women from 0.9 percent to 2.5 percent, and for men from 4.1 percent to 5.2 percent.

Gains for those who were not white males also were evident in the tenure-track, non-tenured category, where white males dropped from 47.8 percent to 42.3 percent.

In July, the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile just a day apart were a watershed moment in the community of black Capitol Hill staffers, including me. Despite the horror of what Americans saw on recorded video and live-streamed on Facebook, Congress did nothing. The indifference of members I otherwise respected disturbed me. Black staff in both houses and on both sides of the aisle felt powerless in their own offices. I know from conversations I had in the ensuing days that I wasn’t the only one who felt we couldn’t raise the issue of race and its continuing effect on our society. If we had no real voice with the lawmakers we worked for, day in and day out, what did that say about our ability to effect meaningful change in communities of color across the country?

It says there still aren’t enough black staffers in positions of influence on the Hill, particularly in the Senate. Per a recent report by the Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus, only 4.9 percent of Washington-based staff members are African American. Through decades of inaction, the world’s most deliberative body has perpetuated an undemocratic lack of diversity.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Students who attend a wealthy and elite cluster of schools in Southern California are demanding various forms of reparations, citing racial strife and other injustices they allegedly face.

Various student factions at the private consortium — which costs an average of more than $50,000 annually — have lodged demands to make right ills they claim to face at the “5Cs” as its known among students, consisting of Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd and Pitzer colleges.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Universities across the globe should introduce affirmative action admissions policies to widen access for disadvantaged students, according to a new policy paper from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Unesco also calls for governments to cap student loan repayments at 15 per cent of graduates’ monthly earnings, but it rejects policies granting free tuition for all students, claiming that one-size-fits-all programmes have been proven to discriminate against poor students.

In November 2016, New York City enacted legislation prohibiting City agencies from inquiring into job applicants' salary history. On April 5, 2017, the New York City Council expanded the above-noted protections, overwhelmingly passing a bill prohibiting nearly all employers – including private sector employers – from inquiring into applicants' salary history. Reasoning that basing a salary offer on a prospective employee's prior salary can perpetuate unwarranted earnings imbalances between male and female employees, the new legislation seeks to combat systemic, gender-based wage disparities. If signed by Mayor de Blasio – which is widely expected – the law will go into effect six months from the date of signing.

In complying with this expected new law, employers must be mindful of the distinction between prohibited inquiries and permissible avenues of salary discussion. Specifically, employers would still be permitted to set forth a proposed salary for a given position and discuss that proposal with a prospective employee. Employers would also be permitted to inquire as to what a prospective employee hopes to earn should he or she receive a job offer. Finally, should an applicant voluntarily disclose his or her prior salary without any prompting or coercion, an employer may take this information into account in subsequent salary discussions. Notably, with limited exceptions, the anticipated new law also prohibits nearly all discussion of an applicant's prior benefits and other forms of compensation.

The attorneys general of 16 states and the District of Columbia on Wednesday filed a brief asking the 4th U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold a ruling that blocked a major part of President Donald Trump's so-called "travel ban."

The attorneys general argue Trump's revised executive order would negatively impact universities and medical institutions, has a depressing effect on tourism — causing lost tax revenue — and amounts to an anti-Muslim order.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

As a tenured professor at the University of San Francisco (USF), Dr. Richard Greggory Johnson III brings to the classroom an exemplary academic, professional and personal history that has shaped his passion for public policy, social equity and human rights.

His road to a career in higher education began as a child in the Bronx.

“I grew up with a great sense of education, not only from my parents but also from my older cousins who were ahead of me in school and most of whom went to college as well. It was family dynamic,” he says.

The person that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently put in charge of her agency’s Office of Civil Rights is drawing a chorus of criticism from civil rights advocates and scholars over her historical hostility to racial preferences and other ideological stances — including having once complained that she was discriminated against for being White.

The Department of Education announced last week that attorney Candice Jackson had been appointed by DeVos as deputy assistant secretary in the Office for Civil Rights, as well as acting assistant secretary.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos makes first official announcement of key aides, many of them in acting capacities and including some controversial choices.

Andrew Kreighbaum

April 13, 2017

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the hiring of nine senior staff members Wednesday, including an acting under secretary with significant experience working on student aid and postsecondary issues.

The hiring of most of the individuals in the announcement had previously been discussed publicly, but it was the first official announcement from DeVos about who would fill key staff positions. Like other federal agencies in the Trump administration, the Department of Education has gone nearly three months without naming appointees to a number of political positions.

“I am proud of my background and ... of what I have overcome to get here.”

Carolina Moreno

April 11, 2017

All Chelsea Batista wanted was to get into one of the 18 medical schools she applied to. Instead, she got into 11.

“I was absolutely surprised,” the 21-year-old senior at Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College told The Huffington Post via email. “When I received my first acceptance, I was golden. When more acceptances started coming in, I was astounded.”

Sunday, April 9, 2017

Hate incidents can happen anywhere: the mall, the church, the office. But, in the wake of the 2016 election, hate's been showing up a lot in school.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in the months following the election more hate incidents took place in America's schools than anywhere else. Hundreds of elementary, middle and high schools have played host to an array of troubling events, from sophomoric stunts to much worse: a hijab pulled off a Muslim student, physical fights with racial epithets flung, even violent threats.

Educators in Massachusetts, as elsewhere, are struggling with what to do.

Princeton University–the prestigious Ivy League institution whose famous alumni include Woodrow Wilson, Michelle Obama, and Queen of Genovia Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi–is suing the Department of Education in an attempt to block the release of its admissions data through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), according to Buzzfeed News.

The lawsuit is an attempt to hinder the anti-affirmative action organization Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), a nonprofit whose mission is to remove race-based college admissions standards and is accusing Princeton of practicing anti-Asian bias in its admissions. The organization seeks to use a FOIA request to prove its accusations by releasing documents that Princeton gave to the DOE during a long investigation by the department’s Office for Civil Rights into anti-Asian discrimination that concluded in 2015. The investigation determined that this bias did not exist.

At many times in his life, Richard Alvarado has faced — and overcome — adversity.

Alvarado has been working since he was 15 years old, struggled with mental illness and encountered temporary homelessness. For most of his childhood in the Bay Area, his parents and extended family faced the threat of deportation.

Having experienced these hardships, Alvarado is running for ASUC president, hoping to provide equal opportunity to students and to mobilize the campus against President Donald Trump. He is running with the Defend Affirmative Action Party, or DAAP, which also endeavors to increase diversity on campus — a goal that Alvarado cites as a top priority of his in his campaign for the presidential seat.

Health — that thing we take for granted but probably shouldn't — is vitally important. Like so many other things, though, it isn't distributed equitably. Race and socioeconomic status have a lot of predictive power when it comes to peoples' health. Some of the explanation stems from an unlikely place — U.S. physician population demographics.

Let's start with some facts. Medical school graduates from 1978 to 2008 — a good approximation of the U.S. physician workforce — are about 75 percent white, 13 percent Asian, 5 percent Latino and 6 percent black. The U.S. as a whole is about 77 percent white, 6 percent Asian, 18 percent Latino and 14 percent black. Another way to frame the data: About 18 out of every 100 who matriculate at medical school identify as students of color. That's far less than the general proportion of the population.

The University of Virginia would like to know who you’re gonna believe: the school, or your lyin’ eyes?

Records from the school show the advancement office — that’s the fundraising arm of the university — kept track of children of donors who had applied to the school, and tried to get those on the “watch list” admitted or wait-listed. The school claims its admissions office makes its decisions independently.

Maybe so. But that would suggest that fundraising staff are just beating their heads against a brick wall. If the admissions office is hermetically sealed off from outside influence, then why do other U.Va. officials keep trying to influence it?

Government officials investigating how Google pays its employees accused the tech company of fostering an “extreme” gender pay gap across its workforce.

The claim stems from an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. An official from the agency revealed the bombshell allegations — accusing the search giant of violating federal employment law in how its female staff are paid — during a hearing in San Francisco on Friday.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Tuesday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBT employees from workplace discrimination, setting up a likely battle before the Supreme Court as gay rights advocates push to broaden the scope of the 53-year-old law.

The 8-to-3 decision by the full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago comes just three weeks after a three-judge panel in Atlanta ruled the opposite, saying employers aren't prohibited from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation.

The 7th Circuit is considered relatively conservative and five of the eight judges in the majority were appointed by Republican presidents, making the finding all the more notable.

The case stems from a lawsuit by Indiana teacher Kimberly Hively alleging that the Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend didn't hire her full time because she is a lesbian.

The guidance, issued in a 2011 Dear Colleague letter, was meant to clarify areas of the law, the administration said at the time. It beefed up protections for victims of sexual assault and was a way to push colleges to more thoroughly respond to complaints. Such guidance does not carry the force of law, but it did contain a threat that colleges’ federal funding could be revoked should they fail to comply.

Monday, April 3, 2017

Before taking office, President Trump vowed to revoke “all illegal and overreaching executive orders.” On March 27, he made good on that vow when he revoked former President Obama’s Executive Order 13673, the Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces rule (“EO”), known by many as the “Blacklisting EO”.

As we reported on July 24, 2016, Obama enacted the EO back in 2014 with the goal of promoting efficient procurement of government contracts with businesses “who comply with labor laws.” Among other things, the EO would have required companies with government contracts valued at $500,000 or more to report violations under 14 labor and employment laws, including the FLSA, FMLA, Title VII, ADA, ADEA, OSHA, NLRA, federal contractor laws and any equivalent state and local laws. Based on the severity of a company’s infractions (or in some cases, mere allegations of infractions), the government could disqualify or outright bar that company from bidding for future federal contracts.

The Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the nomination of Alex Acosta, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Labor, in a 12-11 straight party-line vote. This means that Mr. Acosta’s nomination will be voted on by the full Senate. According to The Washington Post, no date has yet been set for the Senate vote.

And two Democratic Senators have said they will vote in favor of the President’s nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court seat that was made vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) are both facing reelection in 2018 in states that went heavily for President Trump in the 2016 election. According to The Hill, there are still 33 Democrats who oppose Judge Gorsuch, but there may be a few more “red state Democrats” who will waver. Democrats have threatened to filibuster the vote on Judge Gorsuch’s nomination, and the Republicans have threatened to go for the so-called “nuclear option,” which would change Senate Rules to allow cloture to be invoked on a simple majority vote. (The Democrats did the same thing to stop Republican filibusters of President Obama’s Cabinet and federal court nominees.) Currently, 60 votes are required to invoke cloture.

Regis University blocked one of its students from viewing its Twitter account following a dispute with administrators over free speech on campus.

Jade Haney
April 2, 2017

“I had [attempted] to mention Regis University in a tweet to a Catholic Priest from Canada who was showing some support,” Alexander Beck told Campus Reform. “[I] was unable to mention them, [and] after going to their page, I saw that I was blocked.”

Beck, the president of the school’s Young Americans for Liberty chapter, was holding a “Social Justice Bake Sale” earlier this month as a counter to “Social Justice Week” programming when he was approached by Dean of Students Diane McSheehy, who claimed that the event was a “demonstration” that had not received approval.

Following the incident, Beck told Campus Reform that he was contacted by Dr. Nicki Gonzalez, the head of the Diversity Program at Regis as well as Beck’s advisor, who asked to meet with him to hear his perspective on the situation.

After her PSAT, Nicole Bahar ’18 marched directly to her dean’s office and burst through the door, not stopping to talk to friends or send a brief text to her parents letting them know she had finished. She was frustrated, confused and angry, she said, but not due to concerns about the test.

“On the PSAT, I remember I had checked off the box that said ‘white (of Middle Eastern descent),’” Bahar said. “It’s just not fair. I asked, ‘Why am I being generalized and put in a parenthetical?’ It was a mixture of feeling offended and also feeling like it’s unfair that I don’t get this advantage.”

Bahar said she was referring to the policy adopted by colleges known as Affirmative Action, a race-based selection process that aims to promote diversity and increase access to education for applicants of historically disadvantaged minorities, such as African, Latino and Native-Americans. The term “Affirmative Action” was coined by President John F. Kennedy in Executive Order 10925, which included a provision for the government’s “Affirmative Action” to guarantee fair employment without consideration of “race, creed, color or national origin.

The anti-labor, pro-business, blind eye toward discrimination rulings, dissents, opinions and writings of Trump’s SCOTUS nominee Neil Gorsuch have been well-documented. But here’s a brief recap. Between 2007 and 2016, in ten of 14 cases involving discrimination, he shot down all union and employee litigant arguments charging discrimination in back pay, hiring, and termination cases. In a case in 2012, involving pay and an employee termination, he made clear that the burden to prove discrimination is always on the petitioner.

He applied his “originalist” read of the law to cases involving trucker rights, safety and health, and the termination of a whistleblower. In a 2016 case involving an employee suit that charged retaliation, Gorsuch blasted the long-standing standard that permitted indirect evidence of employment discrimination. He flatly stated that the standard had “no useful role to play in First Amendment retaliation cases.” He didn’t stop there. Even more ominously, he noted that the standard may have no application in Title VII discrimination cases “because of the confusion and complexities its application can invite.”

Will he remember that if he makes it to the Supreme Court?

By Richard L. Hasen

April 3

Judge Neil Gorsuch, whose nomination to the Supreme Court is expected to be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, is an affirmative action baby. But there’s no reason to believe that if he’s confirmed, his rulings on the high court would reflect the fact that he did not get where he is today solely based on his merits — or extend to others the benefit of a helping hand.

Let’s start with how Gorsuch got to the point of being nominated in the first place. The judge secured a clerkship on the Supreme Court in 1993 after a post-law school year at Oxford University, quite an accomplishment for a new lawyer. But the clerkship began with Justice Byron White. White was known to favor his home state of Colorado, and it was unsurprising that he handed a clerkship to a bright, politically connected fourth-generation Coloradan. White had just retired, though, and a clerkship with a retired justice is not nearly as prestigious as one with sitting justices, because they do not work on Supreme Court cases. As a courtesy to White’s clerks, Gorsuch got to work in Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s chambers, too — not because Kennedy hired him through a process based only on merit, but instead, because Kennedy wanted to help a fellow justice.

Saturday, April 1, 2017

The “diversity statements” that many colleges now require of applicants for faculty positions are coming under attack by traditionalists and conservatives as threats to academic freedom.

The Oregon affiliate of the National Association of Scholars has issued a report accusing colleges in that state and elsewhere of creating “ideological litmus tests” for faculty hiring and promotion by asking candidates for statements discussing their commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“The statements will deter leading scholars from coming to the state, cause a deleterious effect on research productivity, and serve as an ideological cudgel against scholars with alternative views,” the Oregon Association of Scholars said in issuing the report. It called the statements “a direct threat to academic freedom and research excellence.”

Friday, March 31, 2017

Washington, DC - March 29, 2017. The American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity (AAAED), an organization of equal opportunity, diversity and affirmative action professionals, informed the Senate Judiciary Committee that it must respectfully oppose the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch for the United States Supreme Court.

In its "Statement in Opposition to the Confirmation of Neil Gorsuch to the United States Supreme Court, AAAED wrote: "Given its mission, AAAED recognizes the utmost importance of the Supreme Court of the United States in fairly interpreting the laws regarding civil rights and civil liberties in the workplace, education, private industry, public accommodations and other sectors." "From Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), to Grutter v. Bollinger (2003) and Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court has been essential to the advancement of equal opportunity and social progress by extending Constitutional protections to all regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender, disability, national origin or sexual orientation."

AAAED expressed its support for the statement in opposition released by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights on March 20, 2017. AAAED is a member of the Leadership Conference, an association of more than 200 civil rights and social justice-oriented organizations. AAAED also noted its support for the positions expressed by the National Bar Association, an organization of predominately African-American lawyers founded in 1925, and the National Women's Law Center. "AAAED reiterates the concern expressed by these entities and others that Judge Gorsuch shows a lack of impartiality and independence, as evidenced by his rulings on the Tenth Circuit as well as his speeches and publications," wrote AAAED. "Moreover, as the National Bar Association wrote, Judge Gorsuch's speeches and writings 'evidence a strong tendency to be biased in favor of powerful corporate interests and unapologetically biased against workers and victims of civil and human rights violations.'"

Among the cases that gave AAAED the greatest concern regarding Judge Gorsuch's views of the rights of minorities, women, the LGBTQ community, individuals with disabilities and workers are the following:

In Strickland v. UPS, 555 F.3d 1224 (10th Cir. 2009), the majority held that Carole Strickland, a UPS account executive who sued UPS for sex discrimination and retaliation against her for taking two weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for reasons related to stress, could proceed with both the FMLA and Title VII discrimination claim based on evidence that she was treated worse than male colleagues despite her outperforming them in sales. In his dissent Judge Gorsuch dismissed the evidentiary record and voted to dismiss the Title VII complaint, concluding that she had not proved that she was treated differently than similarly-situated men.

In Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, 723 F. 3d 1114 (10th Cir. 2013) Judge Gorsuch joined the full court in ruling against women's rights and workers' rights, resulting in the denial of basic health services to thousands of female employees. According to Judge Gorsuch, Hobby Lobby, a closely-held, for-profit secular corporation did not have to comply with provisions of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that require employers to provide contraceptive services. Citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), he ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby on the grounds that the provision of contraceptive services violated the company's sincerely held religious beliefs. Moreover, Judge Gorsuch indicated that not only the corporations but the individual owners could challenge the mandate to provide contraceptive services.

In Thompson R2-J School District v. Luke P., 540 F. 3d 1143 (10th Cir. 2008) he denied a student with autism the legal right to attend a private program that was deemed necessary for the child's education during a hearing of the Colorado Department of Education. According to Judge Gorsuch: "a school district is not required to provide every service that would benefit a student if it has found a formula that can reasonably be expected to generate some progress on that student's IEP goals." The U.S. Supreme Court recently disagreed with this inordinately narrow determination of the appropriate standard. Judge Gorsuch's standard was exceedingly low and "would barely provide an education at all to children with disabilities," to quote Justice Roberts. Schools must provide a program that is "appropriately ambitious in light of his circumstances. Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, 580 U.S. ____ (2017).

Similarly, Judge Gorsuch demonstrated a callous disregard for the rights of a worker in the notorious TransAm Trucking, Inc. v. Administrative Review Board case involving a truck driver, Alphonse Maddin, who chose life versus remaining with his truck as ordered when his brakes failed to operate because of the cold and the heating was inoperative. This case also exemplified Judge Gorsuch's willingness to ignore agency interpretations in favor of his own.

"Given the increasingly polarized nature of our state and national legislatures, the federal courts and the Supreme Court in particular are becoming the only recourse for women, people of color, the LGBT community, individuals with disabilities, religious minorities, immigrants, employees and other groups seeking equal treatment under the law," wrote AAAED. "It is therefore essential that the individual who fills the vacant seat on the Supreme Court be prepared to defend the rights of all in a balanced and impartial fashion."

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Now you can shop for Affirmative Action-related books and support AAAED at the same time. As a partner with Amazon.com, AAAED has selected books that provide useful information about affirmative action, diversity and other equal opportunity issues.